Extends Medicare's reduced payment rates for certain long-term care hospital stays through 2032 while exempting some high-acuity discharges from those reductions.

• Extends the site neutral payment reduction for long-term care hospitals by changing the end year from 2026 to 2032.
• Creates a high acuity exemption from the reduced rate for discharges on or after October 1, 2026, where the stay followed a hospital or critical access hospital stay and fell into a higher-weighted diagnosis group.
• Limits that exemption to hospitals that enrolled before enactment, had qualifying periods begin before enactment, had binding construction agreements with at least 10 percent of costs spent, or held a state certificate of need.
• Counts discharges from critical access hospitals toward the ICU and ventilator criteria for long-term care hospital discharges on or after October 1, 2026.

• Ways and Means Committee (House)

Health